Our terrified youth
Sir: Both Claire Fox’s ‘Generation Snowflake’ and Mary Wakefield’s recent column (What’s to blame for a generation’s desperation?, 16 July) get to the root of the terrified pessimism which (I am told) afflicts much of today’s youth.
At 67, I’m fortunate enough to mix with quite a few thoroughly aware, thoughtful and successful young ’uns who eschew the sanctity of ‘safe spaces’ for the rumbustious joy of boozing, singing, dancing, loving and socialising and generally tackling that fearful world head on in ferocious defiance. As Chesterton so perfectly put it in his reply ‘To Young Pessimists’
Some sneer; some snigger; some simper;
In youth where we laughed, and sang.
And ‘they’ may end with a whimper
But ‘we’ will end with a bang.
I know which side I was on in my youth. Lighten up, kids; there’s always hope. But first, you must go through the scary process of opening your eyes to look for it.
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